Priority registration to be available for second COVID-19 vaccine doses, no public registration link planned

A pharmacist prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at UC Davis Health on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021.

(AP Photo/Noah Berger, Pool)

Butler County Health Department has coordinated with the Missouri National Guard and state officials to develop a plan which they hope ensures second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine go to those who received the first dose Jan. 22 and 23 in Poplar Bluff.

A second mass vaccination event will be held Friday, Feb. 12, at the Black River Coliseum. As of Friday afternoon, plans were still being developed and are still subject to change.

Registration was initially expected to open to the public Friday, Feb. 5, with a live link online and on Facebook.

A different plan developed Friday, Feb. 5, and will allow those who received the first vaccine Jan. 22 or Jan. 23 to have priority registration for the second dose.

Contact will be made by email and by phone with those people who were vaccinated at Hydro Adventures and Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center during the first mass vaccination events, said Emily Goodin, Butler County Health Department director.

As of Friday afternoon, it was not known if the contacts would begin over the weekend or on Monday.

“We’re working with the state on a registration link,” said Goodin, who was in contact with the Department of Health and Human Services as of late Friday afternoon. “If they provided an email address when they registered (the first time), we will send out a special link.”

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If individuals provided a phone number and no email, they will be called by the National Guard to schedule their second dose.

Individuals who were registered using emails set up by either the Daily American Republican or the Poplar Bluff Municipal Library will also receive phone calls from the National Guard.

“We’re only sending the link out to people who (previously registered),” Goodin said. “It’s not going to be anywhere on our Facebook page or anything until we know that all of the first dose people are taken care of.

“It’s unknown at this time how many or if there will be any first doses.”

Location

This clinic will be held inside the Black River Coliseum, due partly to weather concerns for next week, Goodin said.

As of Friday, health officials expected residents to be able to register for a specific time to receive their second dose at the Coliseum.

Individuals are asked to wait until shortly before their appointment time to enter the Coliseum.

Efforts are being made to provide shuttle transportation between the Coliseum and the lower parking lots, Goodin said.

The side parking lot will be reserved for handicap and disabled parking, she said.

This is the state’s first second dose, mass vaccination event.

“We’re kind of test running everything,” Goodin said. “They’ll take the lessons from Poplar Bluff, the pros and cons of our second clinic, and roll those out to the state.”

The registration process will be one of those lessons, she said.